Racing with inflatable sex dolls

Some Russian men and women apparently have more than enough imagination to spare — 400 of them recently used inflatable sex dolls as flotation devices to raft down the wildwater Vuoksa river.

The Fifth Bubble Baba Challenge (in Russian, baba stands for 'woman,' only unlike the other word for woman, zhenschina, conveys not a ounce of respect) took place outside the village of Losevo, about 110km from St Petersburg.

The unusual sporting event was dreamed up by mastermind and organiser Dmitry Bulawinov. He said the idea of floating down the river in the embraces of a rubber woman was conceived as a joke at a party where the men got drunk and the women didn't show up.

While considering the possible uses for a rubber woman on a camping trip, someone suggested that a sex doll would make a handy flotation device. Thus the 'Bubble Baba Challenge' was born.

Although hugely outnumbered by enthusiastic males - thrilled to be floating down the river atop a rubber chick - women did compete in the contest, finding nothing strange about clinging to such an unusual 'lifesaver'.